German industry is falling behind international competitors in terms of digitalization, according to a study. Half of the 555 companies surveyed view themselves as laggards, a study published on Tuesday by the digital association Bitkom revealed. One percent admitted to having lost touch entirely. "China is setting the pace for Industry 4.0," said Bitkom Vice President Tanja Rückert. "Germany must keep up, with greater speed and investment in innovation and digital infrastructure."

According to the study, industry also sees a need to catch up in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Fifty-five percent of the companies surveyed stated that Germany risks sleeping through this technological revolution. This is nine percentage points higher than last year. Nearly half see themselves as falling behind or being outpaced in AI.

At the same time, the importance of automated, AI-supported production is hardly disputed, the authors of the study wrote. Ninety-four percent of companies consider Industry 4.0 to be important or indispensable for international competition. However, the weakening economy is slowing down digitalization, according to 58 percent of respondents.

(Report by Hakan Ersen, edited by Christian Götz. For inquiries, please contact our editorial office at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)